Latest Nintendo Direct talks all about Wii U and its upcoming games
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The latest Nintendo Direct was packed with Wii U game announcements. Games like Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2, Monolith's Project X title, and with Shin-Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem were presented. But after all that, there was bigger news that involved Mario, Zelda, and that Smash Bros. game people love so much.
The games we want are coming
Nintendo announced that a new 3D Mario game and Mario Kart game is currently in development for the Wii U. Nothing was shown yet, but Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata says that these games will make an appearance in this year's E3 in a playable form.
Smash Bros. gets a small mention during the presentation. Development is still on track and expect to see the first screens of the game during this year's E3. E3 kicks off this June 11.
The Zelda Wii U game was also mentioned during the presentation. Sadly, the new Zelda game is still not ready for a reveal. Nintendo asks fans to wait a little while longer. To make the wait a lot easier, they announced that they will be remaking The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker for the Wii U with enhanced graphics. They did not go into detail whether there will be added content or changes to the gameplay. No release date was given yet.
They also reveal a new Wii U party game that features different kinds of game styles that utilizes the Wii U GamePad. Casual games that are best played as a group, or games that let you go head-to-head with a friend with just the GamePad. It's planned to launch this summer.
One more game to mention -Yoshi is finally coming back with Yarn Yoshi. The last Yoshi game was Yoshi's Story that was on the Nintendo 64, way back in 1998. The new Yoshi game will get similar visuals seen in Kirby's Epic Yarn. Takashi Tezuka, director of Yoshi’s Story, will be supervising the development.
Wii U updates, Virtual Console, and Miiverse updates
The Wii U will have 2 major updates: The Spring update(around March), and the Summer (around June) update. These updates will improve the loading time when launch software, and shorten how long it takes to return to the Wii U menu screen.
The Spring update, will include a feature that allow players to browse their Miiverse with their smartphones. The feature will be browser-based but Nintendo plans to make a Miiverse app in the future.
A new Wii U Fit app Wii Fit U Communities was revealed giving player the ability to create communities in the miiverse to discuss exercise BMI, weight changes and other health topics with other players.
Virtual Console (seen in the 3DS and Wii), an online service that allows players to buy classic Nintendo titles, will be hitting the Wii U after the Spring update. All Virtual Console titles already on the Wii will be made available in the Wii U version, but not the full line-up will be available on release. The cost of these games on the Wii U will be the same price as the ones found on the Wii. if by any chance you already own some Virtual Console games on the Wii, you can purchase the Wii U version at a reduced price of $1 for NES games and $1.50 for Super NES games.
Also announced is the 30th anniversary celebration of the release of the Famicom (NES) in Japapan. In celebration, Nintendo will be releasing one classic famicom game each month for only 30 cents for 30 days. The promo will start this January and will last until July. Here's the list.
- January - balloon Fight
- February - F-Zero
- March - Punch Out! Featuring Mr. Dream
- April - Kirby's Adventure
- May - Super Metroid
- June - Yoshi
- July - Donkey Kong
Whew, that's a lot to take in. Nintendo is going all out and that's good to see since they have a new console now out. You can watch the full Nintendo Direct presentation below.
